This chapter investigates the interaction between China, under the guidance of the principle of ‘ecological civilization’, and international environmental law through case studies on two selected issue areas that are at the forefront of future international environmental lawmaking: biodiversity conservation and global ocean governance. The chapter first examines China’s legal efforts on biodiversity conservation. Given that China hosted for the first time the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 15th Conference of the Parties in 2021 and 2022, the chapter pays particular attention to China’s role in the negotiation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework – ‘a new global biodiversity framework to guide actions worldwide through 2030, in order to preserve and protect nature and its essential services to people’. The chapter then focusses on China’s participation in two of the latest negotiations of global ocean governance – biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) and the Mining Code in the deep seabed. It concludes with some suggestions regarding how China could possibly act towards a desirable future for a thriving planet for nature and human beings.

This chapter provides a brief overview of the international law relating to liability for environmental damage, and identifies, on a preliminary basis, potential issues arising in developing and applying liability rules in respect of environmental damage in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ). The chapter provides an overview of the current legal and institutional arrangements governing the ABNJ that are the focus of the book -- Antarctica, the deep seabed and the high seas – as well as highlighting some of the environmental risks posed to these areas by current and prospective activities.

What are the physical limits of state sovereignty? This chapter reviews international law concerning the territorial sovereignty of states, including on the land, the oceans, and the air and space above.  Specific legal instruments that govern these areas are examined in some depth, including the Chicago Air Convention of 1944 and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).  Six methods of obtaining sovereign territory are discussed along with vivid examples of each.  The struggle to allow fair use by states and companies over the resources in and below the high seas and outer space is highlighted.  The new space race may prevent the original space treaties’ vision of a new frontier that is devoid of commercialization and militarization.

This chapter explores the understanding of nature reflected in the international legal classification of territory, as reflected in the doctrines of terra nullius, res communis and the common heritage of mankind. It provides an overview and analysis of each of these concepts, noting the frequently problematic role they have played in legitimating the exercise of political and economic power. It then analyses the continuities and discontinuities between these categories. It argues that, despite surface changes, a narrow instrumental view of nature and the environment continues to be deeply embedded in much of our current thinking about jurisdiction over territory, and can be seen as constituting one of the ongoing barriers to thinking about the environment in more innovative and sustainable ways.